


Cogs in the Machine

by Lady_Ganesh



Series: Welcome to Miami [1]
Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Miami, miamiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 03:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miami cop Kane knows where his suspect is. But that doesn't help, when his sometime informant is protecting her. Written for the "We Found Each Other Hungry" theme of the Weiss vs. Saiyuki Battle 2013.</p>
<p>This story mentions physical abuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cogs in the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://emungere.livejournal.com/profile)[**emungere**](http://emungere.livejournal.com/) for betaing and for the inspiration of writing [Miamiverse](http://indelicateink.livejournal.com/313888.html); and of course much love to [](http://indelicateink.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://indelicateink.livejournal.com/)**indelicateink** for dreaming it up.

If you wanted to disappear for good you saw the Magician.

Not everyone knew how to find him, of course, and rumor had it he wouldn't take everyone. You had blood still cooling on your hands, you could find your own way out of Miami. But the Magician was the best in the city, no doubt. He hid you, no one was finding you.

That's why Kane was standing in front of his trailer at three am.

The Magician blinked his eyes in the darkness. He grinned a lazy rogue's grin. "Hey," he said. "I missed you too."

"Claudia Raynes," Kane said, without preamble.

"Haven't seen her." He didn't even blink.

"She was sloppy getting to you," Kane said. "Six people spotted her car." You blew a guy away in the middle of the afternoon, people talked. Especially when you lived in a hi-rise condo in the middle of the city. Kane was still amazed she'd made it as far as she had.

The Magician shook his head. "Nope. Sorry."

"She shot him until she ran out of bullets," Kane said. "And then she tossed his body out the window."

"That the story?" The Magician looked unimpressed. "I heard he fell off the balcony."

"He fell with extreme prejudice," Kane said dryly.

The corner of the Magician's mouth picked up a little. "Sorry I can't help you. You know my rules. Anyone runs off to me after a murder, they get turned away. If she'd headed out here - and she didn't - she'd follow the rules like everyone else. What you doing on this, anyway? Didn't figure it was a case for Vice."

Kane had opened his mouth to answer when a groan came out of the depths of the dark trailer. A feminine groan.

"Huh," Kane said. He'd expected more of the Magician. Maybe not a tip, but at least that he'd sent her on her way. Not that he was hiding her in the fucking trailer.

"My cousin's visiting from Cleveland," the Magician said smoothly. "Told her I'd bring her out here, show her the sights."

"Cleveland."

The Magician shrugged. "Can't pick where your family's from, right?"

"Thought you were an orphan."

"Still have cousins." The Magician stepped back from the door. "Sorry I couldn't be more help, really. You have a good night."

Kane caught the door before he could close it, leaned in, tried to pretend he couldn't feel the Magician's heat, smell his sweat and cheap aftershave. "Don't be an idiot, Vidal. I know she's in there. You really want me to come back with a warrant? They'll toss the place. I don't know what they'll find. I bet you don't want me to know."

The Magician leaned in closer. "Don't give me that shit," he said, his voice calm. "You don't have anything, and you know it."

"I just heard your 'cousin' back there. You think you've got time to get her out of here before I come back with a warrant?"

"I think you shouldn't be arresting my baby cousin because she wanted to see Florida."

"Stop being stupid," Kane growled. "I could fuck your whole operation up, and we both know it."

"I've done a lot of people a lot of favors," he replied. "You sure I wouldn't fuck your operation up first?"

Kane knew he had a point. Neither of them would do it; they were both pretty comfortable with the tenuous balance they had. But it pissed Kane off that they were even throwing these threats around in the first place. "What are you doing?" he said. "What the hell would you risk all this for? She emptied the clip in his _face."_

The Magician's face wavered for a second. "I thought," he said. "I thought we had an understanding, you know?"

Kane felt the ground shift under his feet for a second. "What kind of understanding?"

"I don't fuck with you. I do my job, sure, but if shit really goes down, I turn 'em around. Let you know."

"Yeah," he said. "So why are you standing here while your _cousin's_ sleeping the sleep of the just?"

The Magician sighed. "I'm so fucking stupid," he muttered, as much to himself as to Kane. "All right," he said. "Come see my cousin."

"Wouldn't want to wake her up," Kane said sourly.

"Nah," he said. "I gave her a Valium. She's never taken 'em before." He flipped the outside light on, bathing the yard in morgue white, giving them enough light to walk inside. He stepped back from the door.

There was a figure sleeping on the couch, and that was weird too. Kane had never known the Magician to hold someone overnight, much less in the open like this.

"Take a look," the Magician said. "Take a good look."

Even in the half-light, Kane could see that the woman's dark face was deeply bruised, with long scratches into her cheeks and near her eyes.

"Her arm's broken," the Magician said. "Probably some ribs. When I bandaged her up I saw a lot of the old scars. Chest, upper arms. He made sure they didn't show."

"She should still--"

"What the fuck do you think they're gonna do?" Kane could see the Magician's sneer too. "Little birdie in Records told me her husband was connected. Police had been up to the condo eight times the last month and a half. They did shit. If she gets out from the people her husband was in bed with, it's gonna be years of 'why didn't you just leave?' and 'you still shouldn't have shot him.'" He shook his head. "Go get your warrant if you want. We'll be gone by the time you get back."

The woman put her arm up over her head, as if to keep the light from her eyes. Kane could see the cigarette burn scars on her upper arms, spelling out _TR._ Thomas Raynes. That son of a bitch had _branded_ her. "You didn't want to move her," he said.

"No more than I had to. Not even sure how she made it here, honestly. Adrenalin, I guess." Vidal scratched the back of his head absent-mindedly. "She should be stable by tomorrow afternoon." He shot Kane a look. "If we've got that much time."

Kane sighed. He fucking _hated_ it when the Magician was right. "Claudia Raynes was headed your way, but it looks like she changed her mind and headed north. I'll put out the word."

"Thanks," Vidal said.

"Don't thank me for--"

"Stop," he said, and put his hand on Kane's arm. "You...better get going."

Kane nodded. The way it felt when Vidal touched him didn't matter. He had shit to do tonight. "All right."

"I'll see you, huh?"

"Yeah."

 

Ren had left a message when he got back to his apartment. "Hey."

"Any luck?"

"Nah." He opened up the fridge and pulled out a beer.

"He _was_ beating her."

Kane froze with the beer in his hand.

"It's all right," Ren said. "I wondered what you would do."

"When I was driving back, the dispatcher told me they thought she was pregnant," Kane said. He closed his eyes and held the cold can to his forehead. "Shit, I'm tired."

"I'm proud of you," Ren said.

Kane just shook his head. The whole system was fucked, top to bottom. He was just a cog in it. So was Ren. Hell, so was the Magician. "What difference does it make?"

"It made a difference for her," Ren said. Kane could hear the ice cubes rattling in his whisky. "And her child."

One of the reasons they figured she'd run to the Magician was that she didn't have any family nearby. One aunt in Michigan, no idea if they were close. She'd give birth in prison, with his initials still burned into her arm. "Yeah," he said.

"Get some rest."

"I will," Kane said. _Eventually._ "Have a good night, Ren."

"You too."

Kane hung up the phone and opened his beer, taking a long drink.

The phone didn't ring. He didn't expect it to, and he hated the part of him that wanted it to.

He stayed up too late waiting for it anyway.


End file.
